It is obvious that, on general principles of law and reason, there
exists no such thing as a government created by, or resting upon, any
consent, compact, or agreement of "the people of the United States"
with each other; that the only visible, tangible, responsible
government that exists, is that of a few individuals only, who act in
concert, and call themselves by the several names of senators,
representatives, presidents, judges, marshals, treasurers, collectors,
generals, colonels, captains, etc., etc.

On general principles of law and reason, it is of no importance
whatever that those few individuals profess to be the agents and
representatives of "the people of the United States"; since they can
show no credentials from the people themselves; they were never
appointed as agents or representatives in any open, authentic manner;
they do not themselves know, and have no means of knowing, and cannot
prove, who their principals (as they call them) are individually; and
consequently cannot, in law or reason, be said to have any principals
at all.

It is obvious, too, that if these alleged principals ever did appoint
these pretended agents, or representatives, they appointed them
secretly (by secret ballot), and in a way to avoid all personal
responsibility for their acts; that, at most, these alleged principals
put these pretended agents forward for the most criminal purposes,
viz.: to plunder the people of their property, and restrain them of
their liberty; and that the only authority that these alleged
principals have for so doing, is simply a tacit understanding among
themselves that they will imprison, shoot, or hang every man who
resists the exactions and restraints which their agents or
representatives may impose upon them.

Thus it is obvious that the only visible, tangible government we have
is made up of these professed agents or representatives of a secret
band of robbers and murderers, who, to cover up, or gloss over, their
robberies and murders, have taken to themselves the title of "the
people of the United States"; and who, on the pretense of being "the
people of the United States," assert their right to subject to their
dominion, and to control and dispose of at their pleasure, all
property and persons found in the United States.